Automatic can-body-making machine



April 27 1926.

` S. STUART AUTOMATIC CAN BODY MAKING MACHINE Filed OCC. '11, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet l April 27 1926.

S. s'rllJAR'r AUTOMATIC CAN BODY MAKING MACHINE QQL 1L l N vENToR.- Q Sydny V1/ar April 27 1926'. 1,582,093

S. STUART AUTOMATIC CAN BODY MAKING MACHINE Filed OCT.. l1. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVE'NTOR.- Syq/nzy sfv'f'f ATTORNEY.

April 27 1926.

1,582,093 js. STUART AUTOMATIC CAN BODY MAKING MACHIN! Filed OC'C. l1. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 N VE NTOR: Syany Sfr/aff" ATTORNEY April 21 11926, 1,582,093 S. STUART AUTOMATIC CNBODY MAKING HACHINE R one Tsf N VIM; N l.

A 'TTQRNEY Patented Arpt. 21, 1926.

UNITEosTATEs v PATi=, :Nr "oFF1c1-3.

SYDNEY sTUAnT, or" LEICHHARDT, NEAR sYnNExNEw soUTH WALES. AUSTRALIA,

ASSIGNOB T JOHN REINE S0N`LIMITED, 0Fv LEICHHABDT, NEAR SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, A. COMPANY 0F NEW vSOUTH WALES.A I

AUTOMATIC CAN- BoDY- MAxmo MACHINE.

Appleman ined o czobr 11, 1924. serial No. 74a,oo2.

. .To all whom t may concern."

fBe |it known that I, SYDNEY STUART,"sub ject of the King of Great Britain and Ire- 4 land,fresiding at Allen Street, Leichhardt, eV near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia,

machines in which sheet'metalb anksare .drawn from a stack, and advanced along the bed. intermittently, and at the dwellsy in the movement are respectively notched and. edge folded ready for the closing; operatiom and are thereafter moved on' to-.a mandrel where s the bodies are formed, eind-.the open folded edges are engagedand the@ seam thus pro7 press. a

zo Machines' of Vthis iypejir apblbfbeiag operated only at a limited-frate of output,-

and though it is generally'frecognilzed that vit is highly desirable to increase 'their capacity, no means have been4 conceivedhereto-l stantiall increased.' l i h ect of the yp resent invention 1s to provide' a can body making-machine util! izng elements of known machines ofthe 30, type above indicated but havingan output capacity at approximately twice that og the known machines running at-thesame s eed, notwithstanding that the corner notc ing, edge folding, forming and seam closing operations are as heretofore carried out on'a single bed and mandrel, andthe speed-fof operation of the machine elements is main-- tained at the resent rate.

,l lThe invention consists in extending the 'machine bench or bed and the mandrel, and in operating simultaneously on a train of blankson the same bed and on the same mandrel, advancing the train step by step, and notching, folding, forming and closing a plurality of blanks simultaneously in each stroke of the machine.

The sheet blanks are detached by pneumatic or other known devices from the bot toms of stacks of blanks which are disposed in serial order over the starting end of the machine bed.- Two, o1' it may be more than i two blanks, so detached from their respec- 'more of the blanks beingthus operated on -merl-blo'w by .packing wedgeswhich are set duced closed by the operation of k:a1-hammer,z

fore whereby their outputff'rate canlbefsubrality of bodies-usually two- -1s thus protive stacks are delivered'onto thebed and slid forwardly simultaneously along it by areciprocating feeder, cach blank disposed 'a certain distance thereon behind the preceding 'blank in order.y The blanks are moved forward step by step, and during the dwells at certain stations are successively operated on by mechanism of a known type at which respectively their corners are-notched, their lateral edges are open folded, and they are: formed to cylindrical shape vand the folded edges engaged and seamed, two or simultaneously'` in each operation.. 'The ham'i mer press then closes the seams,A the mandrelbeing meantime-supported against the ham-V appropriately by automatic mechanism between the mandrel andthe machine frame (to, forman abutment for the mandrel.

At i the completion of the seam-closing operation '."jthev bodies are moved forwardly along the mandrel onto the usual conveyor mecha- 75 msm which bringsV them to the slde seam soldering assinbly* .In each strokerof the-mechanism aplu-l duced simultaneously. A highrate of roduction withoutspeeding up' the machine operations yis thus obtained, with practically vno increase inthe cost of supervision, and negligible increase only in cost of operation. Inl the' accompanying explanatory draw- 1ngs:

Fig.. l (which is a continuation of Fig. l), is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing the essential port-ions of a cylindrical can body making machine according to the pres- 90 ent invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation the machine;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the plnne` 3-3 Fig. la; 95 Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation on enlarged scale of portion of the structure at the mandrel position;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectionon the line 5 5 Fig. 4, showing the mechanism with a blank sheet advanced and resting on the mandrel with the forming-'wings by which the blank is folded round the mandrel shown in their upper positions;

at the feed end of gether to form the body side seam; the folding being effected after the notching illustratcd in Fig. 8; l

Fig. l0 is a fragmentary section showing the interlocking of the lateral edge folds of the blanks (Fig. 9) to form the body side seam;

Fig. 1l is a diagrammatic view explanatory of the progressive movement of blanks from stage to stage in the several operations of the machine, and indicating the operative stations at which the blanks are operated or in pairs; and

Fig. l2 is a fragmentary detail illustrating..r the action of the locating pawls.

It is important to note that the feed operates in such a way that though each sheet at each movement receives a two stage advance forwardly, the sheets from the respective stacks are, after the first'few strokes of the machine, disposed as a continuous train of blanks along the machine bed with intervening clearance spaces. At the notching station in the machine illustrated which is designed for operating on two blanks simultaneously, two blanks, one from each of the two stacks, are located adjacently on the bench and are notched simultaneously. These two blanks are thereafter advanced step by step along the bed to the folding station, and thereafter to the forming station where they are formed simultaneously, and then to the closing station where they are closed simultaneously. The closed bodies finally pass from the seam closing mandrel on to the carrier mandrel, along which they are moved by a picking arm and by a claw chain feeder, the closed seams successively passing over a fiuxing roller and a soldering iron. The soldering or the locked seams is effected in an operation i :lependent of and subsequent to the completion of the closing operation. The machine bed is fitted with a fence 13 along either side of it. The sheets are kept in alignment. by these fences.

To facilitate explanation of the operation of the machine, it is desirable to refer firstly to the diagram, Fig. il; this diagram shows the positions of the blanks at each successive stage of the feed movement, that isat each stroke of the machine. The blanks taken from the first blank stack O are designated A, A', A2, A5, A4, A5; the blanks taken from the second blank stack O which is in ad- Vance of the first blank stack are marked B, B', B2, B3, B, B5. The stroke of the feed device is such that in each movement the respective blanks are moved ahead along the bench through a distance more than double the length of kone blank. The positions of the train ,of blanks at the completion of successive strokes of the feeder are shown on the lines marked respectively. C, D, E, F, G, H, J, and K. In the C position, at the starting of the machine, before any blanks are slid out from the stacks, A and B indicate respectively the lowermost sheet in each of the two stacks, these sheets being shown bowed to bring them into the range of the feeder. O represents the first blank stack position, O the second blank stack position, L and L the stations at which the corners of the blanks are notched, M and M the stations at which the longitudinal edges of the notched blanks are folded, and N and N the stations at which the folded edge blanks are closed by the press hammer. Starting from the position C, the blanks A and B at the bottom of the respective stacks O and O are taken by the feeder in the manner hereinafter described and moved forward two stages; these blanks are thus brought to the positions marked A and B respectively on the line D. At the next stroke of the feeder, two more blanks A and B are taken from the stacks O and O and moved on two stages, whilst the previously extracted blanks A and B are at the same time moved on two further stages, so that now the four blanks A, B, A and B occupy the respective positions shown in line il, with the blank B in the notching position tion E, the sheets A2 and B2 are taken from the respective stacks O and O and together n the movement of the feeder at posiwith the sheets A, A B, B are moved forwardly two stages, bringing them to the positions shown on the line F, with B at the folding station M, and B and A at the' notching stations L and L. There are thus at this stage six blank sheets on the machine bed. In the next feed movement, sheets A3 and B3 are taken from the first and second stacks O and O respectively, and, as before, these sheets, together with the sheets previously taken, are all moved forward two stages, the resulting position of the eight blanks being shown in the line G. In this position, B is located at the folding station M, and B2 and A at the notching stations L and L respectively, wherev they are simultaneously notched. Thence a similar movement advances all the sheets, including the sheets A4 and Bt, from the blank stacks, bringing the position of the sheets on the bed as shown at line H. At this stage the sheet B has reached the forming and closing station N, the sheets A and B2 have reached the folding stations M and M, and the sheets B3 and A2 have reached the notching stations L and L. At the next forward `movement of the feeder bars, represented on the line J, the formed body B .passes on by the conveyor mechanism to the soldering a sufficient number of feeder movements have been thus made, the operating stations are vin order charged with blanks, and these blanks are opera-ted on at those stations during the dwells in the step-by-step feed mo tions for notching (stations L and L), edge folding (stations M and M) and forming and closing (stations N and N). In the early strokes of the machine, one sheet only reaches the operating stations, but when these'early strokes of the machine have been completed, two blanks in train order reach the stations simultaneously at each stroke and these two blanks 'are at each station operated on simultaneously.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, blanks are shown on' the machine bed, and their positions, kshown diagrammatically in Fig.v

11, are correspondingly referenced, representing the first stack of blanks, 0 the sccond stack of blanks, L and L', the notching stations, M and M the folding stations, and N and N the forming and closing stations. At these latter stations the seam 4folds are engaged by the jaw action` and they are closed by means of the press hammer acting under the anvil mandrel.

The 'stack casing 20 carries the first stack of blanks O, and the casing 21 the 'second stack of blanks O; these casings are each constituted of a front plate 22 supported over i the bed 12 of the machine, a cheek plate 24 der their lateral edges.

at each side, and a back plate 25 which is adjustably carried on the cheek plates 24 by means of a bridge fitting 26. v

The bottom end of each of the back plates 25 is bent outwardly as shown at 27 to offer a fair lead for the delivery of the metal sheets from the stacks in single tile. The back plates 25 need not be` of any considerable width. As shown in Fig. 2, they consist only of relatively narrow bars, their only function being to hold the stack of metal sheets compactly and to permit single sheets, when released successively from the bottom of the stacks, to be passed out and pushed along the machine bed. The stacks of meta-l sheets in the yslack casings are supported on lips or shelves 2S projecting forwardly from 'the carriers 23 and located near the cheek plates 24.; ,these shelves support the sheets only un- The sheets are thus entirely unsupported intermediate the shelves 28 except' by their own stiffness, and they may therefore be bent down centrally whilst still remaining supported on the shelves under their alteral edges. They are bent one by one at each stack simultaneously by means of a pneumatic device comprising a tubular plunger 29 having two branch pipes 30 projecting from it fore and aft with sucker mouths fitted on the ends of these pipes.

The sucker mouths are directed respectively towards the bottoms of the two stacks. The plunger 29 is connected at the bottom end to an exhaust pump through a flexible pipe 31, being a threeway cock for controlling the air How. Cocks 130 and Vllare fitted in the branch pipes 30. When all these cocks are open, the machine will operate as a double action machine, that is to say, it will feed blanks in pairs and operate on them in pairs to form two bodies simultaneously, but if either v130 or 181 be closed the other will continue to operate and the machine will then operate as a single action machine. If the cock 32 be opened-to atmosphere the take-off will be rendered inoperative. The plunger 29 carries an offset tappet roller 33 which works in a cam groove 34 in a disc 35 which'is rotated in timing with the feeder byy chain gearing engaging the sprocket wheel 36. on the end of the shaft on which the disc 35 is keyed. The plunger may be fitted with an automatic valve arranged to open only when the plunger` is in the upper position, but ifi-practice it is not thought necessary to use such a valve as the Waste resulting from tbe continuance of the indraft of air during the time the plunger is'in its lower position is not material. When the plunger 29 makes an upward movement, the

onthe shelves 28. lVhen the sheets are thus bowed down their middle parts are engageable by the push claws 36 on the offsets which are fixed on the feeder bars 37 these push 'claws are formed with finger ends which take over the back edges of the down'- bent sheets and so hold those sheets in downbent position during the first forward feed movement. They are mounted as pawls on pins 3S, and in the retiring movement of the feeder they may kick free under any obstruction which they may meet and come back to the normal full back position which is shown in Fig. 1, ready to engage with the next sheet which is brought down to the engageable position by the next action of the pneumatic plunger. 40 are pinching springs each constituted of a single leaf of spring steel mounted as shown at 41 on each check plate.

As the sheets taken from the stacks are pushed forwardly by the feeder bars they are caused to pass over the bed of the machine under the springs 40, these springs holding them down firmly on the bed during the retiring movement of the feeder bar 37, so that they come to an assured position at each movement, and remain there undisturbed until they are again subjected to the operation of the feeder bars.

The feeder bars 37 are mounted on a slide head 43 which moves in guide ways 44 on the machine bed. The head 43 is reciprocated by means of a pitman or like mechanism 45, the wrist pin housing 46 of this ptman being preferably fixed in the slide socket 43 by a dove-tail stub' 47 secured by a Cotter key 48 and a pinching pin 49.

The feeder bars 37 are armed with pawls at stage intervals along their length; these pawls are all spring pawls so that they depress to allow them to pass back under the advanced sheets and to spring up again and take behind blank sheets which have been moved forward in the previous feeder stroke. These .several spring feeder pawlsare respectively numbered 42, 42X, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, and 68. At their rear ends the feeder bars 37 are'connected` at 95 tov other feeder bars 96 locatedclose together near the centre of the sheets and .slidably housed in slots in the mandrel 70, as shown Spring -feed pawls in Figs. 5 and 7 mounted on each of these bars 96. are respectively marked 69, 71, 72, 73, and 74.

Above the bed at each side of it,4 is a rail 83, 84 being milled head screws for holding it lengthwise in relation to the bed. Each of these rails carries eight pawl boxes 85, se, ser, 87, 185, 186, 186x, and 187, which f are adjustable along .'them by means of pinching screws 88.-' In each vof the boxes 85 and 86X a spring check pawl 89 is carried'. In the operating movement of the feeder bars the blank sheets are pushed forward by the pawls 63y and 64 respectively', and pass under these pawls 89 which then snap` back in behind 'the sheets which have so passed. In each of the lboxes 86 and 87 a spring kickback pawl 132 is carried. These kick-back pawls 132 have a limited moyen' nt which allows the sheets 'to pass underv Vv:ein in the' operating movement of the feeder bar, but the springs which act ont-hem are sufficiently stiff to cause each one of them to push the nearest blank sheet backward at the commencement of the retiring movement of the feeder bars, the feeder movement being regulated so that the sheets are slightly overfed. At each operative feeder the box 86. Simultaneously the following 'sheet passes under the check pawl 89 in the' box 85. The pawls 89 then snap back into their locating position. The sheets are lfor the note-hing operation which iseffected at this station (Ir-L).

In the first forward movement` of the feeder bar 37, a sheet is taken from the stack O and moved to the position Q, another sheet being taken simultaneously from the stack 0f and moved to the positionQZ. Assuming that the machine has been in operationrfor sutlicient time to bring l the sequence of sheets correct, so that they reachl the' operative stations L, L,'M, M', N, N', in pairs, las has been described inv reference toFig. 11, the sheets at the station L, L" are simultaneously notched by the dies 50, 51,v 52, and 53, as shown in Fig. 8. These dies are fitted in housings 54 and are arranged one. crosshead which is connected -by a .link 55 to a. bell crank 56 to which timed oscillation is imparted through a pitman 57 which is driven from an eXeeni tric l58 '.'Ihe pitman 45 is driven by a crankrpin 59, this `crank pinv being overhunxg on a disc 60 keyed to a shaft'l. p

, ien the blank sheets have been notched at the. stations L and L', they pass on to the folding stations M and M where their edges are folded over, as shown lin Fig. 9. The pawl boxes 185, 186, 186", and 187 are mounted on the rails 83 and theirassociated pawls 89 and 132 operate to locate the blank sheets for the folding operation precisely in the same'manner as the pawls which have just beendescribed in connection with the registering ,of the sheets at the notching stations.

, 90, 91 and 92 Iare cylindrical housings each of which carries a spring presser 93 which .bears down on the sheets as they ass beneath them and revents the sheets rom moving backwar s in the retiring movement of the feeder bars.- These pressers are located only at blank or inoperative stations, as it is not necessary to so accurately locate the sheets there as it is at operative stations. v

After the folding operation, the sheets are moved forward to the forming and closing stations N and N. They are pushed forward by the pawls 68 and 69 on to a mandrel 70. Provision is made for locating the sheets in spaced order and squarely in register across the mandrel 70; the means for doing this comprise kick-back pawls 98 '4Q slotted hole; the. springs actin through the rings105 lift theiwedge 104 w ien the upper wedge 103 is retired, so as to offer clearacted on'by springs 99y carried in adjustablejaw;v pieces 99" eld by clamping screws 100x and by kadjustable back checks 100. These p awls 98 function in the samel manner as thepawls .132 previously described in connection with the notching and folding operations. The `checks100l are formed angularly as shown at 101 on theirtop portions in order vthat the forwardly moving sheets mayvault them, and guide lips 102 are fixed above them so as to leave clearance spaces'through -which the sheets may be fedforward In the final feed movement (see Fig. 7) the sheets which have been edge folded, as shown in Fig.`9, at

their lateral edges in vaulting over the top portions 101 of the back checks. 100.*` As soon as the back edges ofthe sheets pass over the checks 100 they snap down to strai ht iposition, as shown by dotted lines in F1g..7,'.and the checks 1 00 .then prevent these sheets fromfbeing moved backward." In .the forward feed motion, the front ends ,of the ysheets are brought `up against the kick-back pawls 98. In the feed movement these pawls move alittle, compressing their springs -99,`but .immediatlely the feed movement reverses, the springs 99 re-act and contact .with thei checks 100.

amost ofthese wedges 104 is loosely sup` ported at either end bya carrier ring 105 maintainedbya spring 106, and it is an-4 chored. endwiseby a' cross Vpin 130 in a ance for the feed movement of the sheets on to the mandrel 70, and they flex when the upperwedge 103 is forced inward by the lever mechanism 107,. When the wedge 103 is forced in ovei the wedge 104, a sound abutment against 'the frame 108 is provided to su port the ymandrel 70 whilst the seam isbeing closed-by the blow `of the press j hammer 109. When the sheets are thus Agripped by the wedge 104 on the mandrel `70 vand before the hammer 109 is brought up to close the seam 110 (Fig. 10), the sheetsare bent around the mandrel by the Vforming jaws 119120to form the bodies. 111"are lateral fences flanking the back checks 100 and functioning to set the sheets `centrally Lacross the mandrel. As the sheets are fed forward over the checks 100 andl between the fences 111 their edges are received on support platforms 112 which are pivotally carried on centres w113 these platforms are movable radially, being attached to arms 114 which are link connected at 115 to timed operating-mechanism which withdraws them radially outward after the sheets have been gripped by the wedges 10S- 104: on to the mandrel 70 and are thus securely held. When the platforms 112 are thus retired, clearance is offered for the downbending of the sheets; this downbending brings the folded side edges 116 and 117 (Fig. 9) of the sheets into engagement under the hard inset piece 118 in the bottom of' the mandrel 70 to 'take the blow of the press hammer 109. The infolding is e'dccted by means of forming` jaws 119-120; these jaws being respectively `pivotally carried on crossed centres 121 and 122 and actuated by linkages 123 and 124. This device for effecting the infolding of the sheets under the mandrel is not novel, and no 'claim is made in-respect of it. Some features of the machine of a structural character which are well known in theexisting practice of the art are not described, the vpresent description including only suicient of the known practice todnake'the novelties, in which the present invention consists, completely understood.

After the bodies have been closed on the mandrel 70 they are fed by the pawls 71- "72-7'3 and 74 on to the carrier mandrel 75 along which the closed bodies 76 are moved until the most forward one is engaged by a finger claw 79 on the drag chain 78. The next following-body is engaged by a pawl 82 on the side of the oscillating feed arm 77 and thereby brought in turn under the drag chain 78, the'following inger claw `79 of which engages it and moves it along the mandrel 75. The chain feed so moves the bodies in train order with 4their closed seams iny contact with the fluxsemblies otherwise arranged may be used in l its place. 4

In practice it is not probable that the m-achine would be extended so as to make it usable for the manufacture of bodies three at a time, or four at a time. There is a practical limit determined by the balance of con'- venience to the number of body closing operations which might be conducted simultan@` ously according to the method of the invention. Clear it would be undesirable to extend the machine so that it would be usable for the making of more than two bodies when those bodies are of any considerable length. It might, however, be adapted for the making of more than two bodies when the body lengths are relatively short. It is accordingly to be understood that' the attached drawings disclose an embodiment of the invention for a duplex machine, .but that' taneously, on the same principle.

The pneumatic arrangement which has been described which functions to suck down the lowermost'sheet in each stack of sheets so as to bring it to engageable position at the centre part of it with the push claws 36 would be preferred in practice, but there are mechanical devices known in the art for detaching the lowermost sheet of a stack so that it may be then engaged by a reciprocating feeder operating below the stack. Any known form of bottom sheetextractor mechanism might be used in substitution for the pneumatic device which has been de-` scribed for that purpose.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A. can body making machine comprising a plurality of open bottom stack casings disposed in serial order over the machine bed, each of said stack casings being adapted for carrying a tiel-of sheet metal blanks, means disposed below said stack casings for simultaneously detaching the bottom sheet of each tier in successive operations, corner notching dies adapted -for .simultaneously notching a plurality of adjacent sheets, edge folding devices adapted for simultaneously folding the sides of adjacent sheets, body forming devices, a closing hammer, an anvil mandrel and supporting abutment adapted for forming and closing a plurality of can bodies simultaneously, a reciprocating push` er feeder adapted for advancing the sheets ste by step in train order along the machine be and brlnging them to a condition of rest in groups at each operating station, means for adjusting the position of the sheets at each operating station, a carrier mandrel means fordelivering a plurality of close can bodies on to said carrier mandrel and means for imparting timed movements toA the sheet detaching means, the feeder, the notching dies, the edge folding devices, the forming devices, the anvil abutment, the closing hammer, and the closed can delivery means.

2. In a can body making machine according to claim 1, means for adjusting the positions of the sheets on the anvil mandrel preparatory to forming and closing, said means including lateral fences and pivoted platforms insetting below lsaid fences to support the lateral edges of the sheets and means for retiring said platforms after the sheets have been gripped on the anvil mandrel in the forming operation.

3. In a can body making machine according to claim l, means foradjusting the positions of a plurality of sheets on the anvil mandrel, said means including lip guides and stationary back checks, said checks having angular heads adapted to flex the lateral edges of the sheets upward in the feeding movement and to revent the sheets from moving backward 1n the reverse movement of the feeder, and spring kick-back pawls at the forward ends of the sheets;

4. A can body making machine comprising a plurality of blank stack casings, corner notching dies, and edge folders serially arranged, a forming mandrel and closing press assembly, and a reciprocating feeder adapted for simultaneously delivering in each stroke of said feeder a plurality of blank sheets at each respective operating station and a plurality of formed bodies on to a carrier mandrel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

' sYDNEYsTUART. 

